Lunistice news & patch notes

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that the Hana Plushies (made in cooperation with Makeship) are available right now! The campaign runs for three weeks, so get them while you can! And as a little treat: every purchase of a plushie comes with a free Steam key for Lunistice, in case you'd like to inflict the game upon others! <3 {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/2d5ba2301184647823704513b0c1da9d2fca20bf.png You can find the campaign page right here: https://www.makeship.com/products/lunistice-hana-plushie

Also some updates about Lunistice 1.5!

Some of you already noticed that I released a short demo of Lunistice 1.5 (the upcoming FREE update for Lunistice) on itch.io during the special Christmas SAGE event last December. I originally wanted to make it a limited thing, but my scatterbrained self kinda forgot. And then I forgot to update you on Steam as well! D: I'm very sorry! But in good news, the demo is still up (and will remain exclusive to itch.io until I got a better idea when the update will be released)! Grab it right here, if you like: https://agrumpyfox.itch.io/lunistice And don't forget to join the Community Discord, if you like! I'm typically much more active over there (mostly because I already have very little free time to work on the game, so I unfortunately can't concentrate on too many things at once). As for the update itself: it's still in the works, but I still don't have a release date just yet, sorry!

ANNOUNCEMENT TIME! Lunistice is partnering with @Makeship for a plushie petition! 🌟 This means: if at least 200 people join the campaign we'll work together with the lovely people at Makeship to create a Hana Plushie for you! Join now: https://www.makeship.com/petitions/lunistice-hana-plushie {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/4e25b3864395c79e652e7a85351e2757b129c9cf.png Interested in this amazing new artwork? Well, here's another cool thing to show off: the new Key Artwork for the upcoming FREE content update "Lunistice 1.5 //ACCEL CODA"! This amazing piece of art was created by @gears2gnomes - definitely give them a follow! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/7705539669e62782e9f728b968d5b918da3a3081.jpg The last year was just unreal with the amount of support and good vibes from the Lunistice community! I never ever imagined that so many people would be interested in my funny little jumpy animal game. Thank you so, so much for everything 🙇 Onwards to Lunistice 1.5!

Hello Everyone! 💖 First of all, let me get the obligatory thing out of the way: Lunistice is on Sale right now! You can grab the game for 20% off from now until July 13th! It's the biggest discount we had so far, so if you haven't given Lunistice a try yet, now might be a good time to check it out! 💖 And if you already have played the game, please make sure to leave a Steam review! It helps a lot - thank you so much! Besides that - if you've been following either my Twitter account or the Lunistice Discord (which you should totally join btw 👀), you might be aware that, thanks to all of your support and Lunistice being a bigger success than I could've ever hoped for, I'm working on a FREE content update/DLC for the game called Lunistice ver. 1.5 // ACCEL CODA ! As per usual it started as "how about I add a few challenge levels" and pretty much ballooned into a full-fledged DLC with a continuation of the story, new levels, a brand new main character, more guest characters and a, quite frankly, ridiculous number of additions, improvements, quality-of-life options and bugfixes! (And yeah, I actually broke 5-2 music in the current patch, it'll be fixed in 1.5. Pinky promise! That's what I get for meming, I guess) Here's a few screenshots on how the content update will look! The new title screen! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/67b6ac516f8aa79d6da1716b39bb59fa14a4a7fa.png New levels and a new character! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/27e0476d33032cf36d16b10ac607c618093b265b.png More accessibility options like being able to activate outlines for characters/enemies/objects! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/0237b4d87fd74d6eca14f659f866217160812719.png You can find a lot more smaller and bigger updates and the ever-growing changelog on the Community Discord as well! When will it release? When I'm done with it! 😅 I'm mostly doing this update as a thank you and to - basically - tidy up the base game a little bit! Make it nice and shiny, dust off the top of the shelves, reorganizing the furnishings a tad. Stuff like that! So I'm working on it whenever I can, but I don't have an ETA just yet. As soon as I know, you will know as well! 💖 Thank you so, so incredibly much for your ongoing support! Every one of you made this weird journey of "making a quick little game in 30 days", that became so much more and now has technically been in development for 2 years, 100% worth it! Thank you! 🙇

Hello everyone! Right before Christmas I have a little present for you: Lunistice ver. 1.05 is out now! 🎄🎁 This update focuses mostly on adding a better camera system and some rebalancing, especially for Toree's levels. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank you so so much for your support! The release of Lunistice is now a little over a month ago and the amount of support and feedback I got (and am still getting) is nothing short of amazing! 💖 I always said that my main goal for Lunistice was to just have a bunch of people have a good and chill time for a little while in these truly stressful times. And I'm incredibly humbled that my little game seemed to do just that for... a lot more than a "bunch" of people. I can't wait to show you all what I've got in store for the next project! If you'd like to keep up in real-time with updates on any future projects (and I'm planning to be as open and communicative about the dev process as with this game), be sure to join our Community Discord and/or follow me on Twitter! Thank you so, so much for all of your support. Y'all made this past grueling year 100% worth it 🙇 And now: have a changelog! Happy Holidays! 💖

Lunistice ver. 1.05 Changelog

Additions

• Added "Smooth Camera" option to the Camera menu. This will smooth out horizontal camera movement overall, which should (hopefully) lead to a much more controllable character and reduced motion sickness for many people. This option is active by default on fresh save files only and can be deactivated at any time to restore the camera to its old behaviour
• Added UI elements for tracking your progress in Stage 5-2

Changes

• Overhauled camera snapping (left trigger button). Instead of using Hana's view direction for recentering it'll now take player input into account (when moving). This means that the camera should now snap to where you want to go, not where the character's currently looking at
• Removed a bunch of enemies from Toree's levels. Mind you, Toree is still considered the de facto "hard-mode" of the game and you will have to do some "weird" jumps, but most if not all of the really unfair enemies should be gone now
• Rebalanced final section of Stage 2-1
• Very slight rebalancing of Stage 2-2
• Rebalanced Stage 4-2. Again
• Very slight rebalancing of Stage 5-2
• Made hitboxes on rolling pin stage hazards much more lenient

Fixes

• Fixed being able to easily bypass a certain part of Stage 7-2
• Fixed weird collision on the final parts of Stage 6-1 where you could lose your double jump easily

Hello everyone!

Short post for a smol update! Ver. 1.04 is now LIVE!

Lunistice ver. 1.04 Changelog

Additions

• Added transparent/fake letters after letters in a stage have been collected

Fixes

• Fixed Stage 7-X being selectable without it being unlocked

And about that Stage 5-2 music: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/92221cd9f092e00d9160679d61ed9164bd93d5a0.png I'm sorry. I bamboozled you all.

Hello everyone!

Time for another quick update! Ver. 1.03 is now LIVE! I'll make it short and sweet, so check out the changelog below <3

Lunistice ver. 1.03 Changelog

Changes

• Made timings for jumping at the end of grind rails in 6-2 a bit more lenient
• Rebalanced rail segment in 3-1 level secret
• Rebalanced final rail segment in 3-2 to be a bit more forgiving
• Rebalanced "blind drop" in 6-1
• Changed input buffer for launchers. It should be harder to accidentally double jump and miss the target when being launched now.
• Removed Hana's "A-Pose" from all animations. Just to be clear: it wasn't an "A-Pose", by the way, it was an actual falling animation and it was *certainly* not a T-Pose, what are you even talking abou--- hey what are you doing don't take away my keyboa-
• You can now actually use the down button in the act selection for stage 7

Fixes

• Fixed camera recentering not working properly on grind rails
• Fixed invisible collider in spiral bridge section of stage T
• Fixed glitching into file select from results menu by spamming ESC
• Fixed softlock by resetting to checkpoint while bouncing off a platform and entering a water bubble
• Fixed grind rail overlay vanishing when switching to hi-res mode while on a rail
• Fixed Stage 5-2 music

Hello everyone!

The first update for Lunistice - ver. 1.02 - is now LIVE! Before we jump into the changelog, let me thank each and everyone of you for your absolutely fantastic support and feedback! I would never have dreamed that so many people would be interested in my little game. Thank you so, so much! 💖 And thanks to your amazing feedback, I can present ver. 1.02 of Lunistice! This update not only fixes a bunch of bugs, but also adds a few quality-of-life options, like being able to "unlock" vertical camera movement, being able to unlock the mouse from the game (which was necessary for certain accessibility software) and... High-Res Mode! You can now enjoy Lunistice in... uh.. HD! Kinda! Textures and models are still very much adhere to the standards from 25 years ago 😀 {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/4ac5ed518000634b8e3e46943f815feddceaaf36.jpg Please note that the new options are currently not translated into French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese! I'm working on getting those localized and will update them in an upcoming hotfix. Oh! And! This update also aims to iron out some wonky, kinda flow-breaking level designs! Specifically in Stages 2-2, 4-2, 6-2 and 7-2! Check out the changelog below and again: Thank you so much! 🙇

Lunistice ver. 1.02 Changelog

Additions

• Added "Smooth Turning" option to the Gameplay Menu. Turning this off gives much more direct and sensitive control over Hana (they should feel close to the original Eversleep demos from last year).
• Added hotkey "L" to lock/unlock mouse cursor to/from the game window. This should hopefully help with the usage of certain accessibility software.
• Added failsafe for potential softlock spots. If the game recognizes players infinitely falling without hitting the ground they will now be snapped a few units upwards. This should (hopefully) prevent most softlock situations.
• Added toggle for Hana's All S-Ranks reward. The reward can now be toggled on/off per save slot if it has been unlocked on any save slot before.
• Added option to expand vertical camera movement
• Begrudgingly added High-Res option

Changes

• Camera movement should now feel better when using Keyboard + Mouse
• Rebalanced parts of Stage 7-2
• Rebalanced parts of Stage 2-2
• Rebalanced parts of Stage 4-2
• Rebalanced parts of Stage 6-2
• Changed position of grinding indicator

Fixes

• Fixed softlock when entering a bubble while dying
• Fixed being able to smash water drop crystals in Stage 5-2 by running into them
• Fixed Toree's S-Rank achievements not triggering
• Fixed Toree randomly dying when loading a new level
• Fixed players getting stuck on the beginning of grind rails in specific cases
• Fixed collectible counter showing "CRANES" even for guest characters
• Fixed grind rail bar vanishing on big UI scale
• Fixed wrong behaviour for mushroom switches in 7-2
• Fixed Interface showing up in the sky in some stages
• Fixed some weirdness with DualSense controller mappings (hopefully)
• Fixed Karakasa slimes getting stuck in mid-air
• Fixed Stage 5-2 music

Hello! It's here! It's out! Lunistice just released on Steam. What started as a challenge for me to develop a game within 30 Days became a much bigger project in the end. And the community helped shaping it. And I just want to thank everyone involved. From the Twitch Chat to my coworkers. From my composer to my family. And now: Enjoy the game. Master Hana's dreams. Play Lunistice. And if you don't know what to expect from the game, there is also a free demo available! And check out the OST, which is now also available on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2208660/Lunistice_Soundtrack Thanks. A Grumpy Fox

Hello! I'll keep it short and sweet! It's finally happening! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/921fc61cf785a9783b00cae6ba33a3a01f66bc5c.gif (also the demo got a small update as well, so check it out if you like 👀)

Hello! As you might've seen already on my Social Media/Discord/Whatever, we had to move the release date for Lunistice a little bit, due to... unforeseen circumstances! As it turns out, beginning of September suddenly got really REALLY packed with other releases and I wasn't 100% happy with the quality the full game was at! So, to hopefully find a better day to release the game on and to give me a bit more time to polish, we're moving the release date just a little bit! I'll announce the final release date only when the game is 100% ready to go! To make up for the delay, I decided to prepare a completely new demo version for all of you! This new demo should now be representative of the final quality of the game and includes all improvements and additions I made to the full release version! Check it out if you like and tell me what you think! You can also find a short version of the changelog below! Thanks so much for your time and for checking out Lunistice! It's almost ready to go and I can't wait to show off my little "30-day project" to all of you! 💖 ~Dennis

Changelog

General Changes

• New short intro cutscene
• Swapped old Stage 3 - 1 "Food 01" with the new "Park 01" stage in the demo, since the ordering of levels in the final game has changed a little bit
• The final soundtrack by the amazing knasibas is now in and all temp tracks have been removed!
• Removed Speedrun Mode, due to massive time constraints and technical difficulties
• Instead of Speedrun Mode, in the new profile select window you can now change your character at any time! Every character has their own progression and will have to unlock levels normally first. Keep in mind that in the final version, you will have to meet certain criteria to unlock the ability to change characters
• Removed "1994 mode", as supporting this feature for different platforms kind of became a huge problem due to my "30-day" spaghetti code base. The game will now run in low-res mode by default. Sorry!
• Added localizations for: English, Japanese, German, French, Italian & Spanish
• Hana finally got some clothes to wear!
• All new menus and stuff!

Gameplay Changes

• Tweaked the physics for Hana a lot, giving you better control over her movements. Give it a try! Especially when you had problems with her sliding off cliffs in the past
• New camera system
• Added a proper tutorial level
• Implemented a much better ranking system, now rewarding clean and thorough playthroughs instead of time spent in a level
• Added optional player drop shadow to help out with gauging where you can land during jumps
• All of the level designs have been expanded, tweaked and/or outright redone, giving all levels a bit more meat, some more interesting gameplay and a completely new look!
• The total number of collectibles in a stage is now shown during gameplay, due to levels not being limited to 100 collectibles per level anymore
• Player attack is now much more visible. You can now also collect collectibles using your attack!

...and much, much more. A lot has changed during this year!

Hello! As you might have noticed a... few things changed about the Steam page for Eversleep! And yup! It went through a name change! As for the reasons: I'll paste a detailed little Q&A below that explains most of what's going on with the game and stuff. First of all: don't worry! Your wishlists are still 100% valid - all that has changed on Steam is the new page and new name! Also you might have noticed that the demo is offline for now! It will come back as well soon enough! With a BUNCH of improvements! Oh! Also the game will release September 2nd! Check out the trailer! 🎉🎉🎉 Anyway, here's the Q&A. It's a long one, though I want to be as thorough and transparent as possible! 😄

“Why is Eversleep now Lunistice?”

- To be honest, it just kinda made... sense? As I’ve stated before, after the whole “30-day” challenge thing, I saw the opportunity to make the game into a truly fun experience. During the time polishing the game, working on it and seeing the positive and nice feedback from demo players I already kinda had the thought in my mind that *this* might be the kind of game I actually with all my heart *want* to make. Add to that the realization (after a near burn-out in the months between 2021/2022) that with my schedule (working full-time for Deck13 and being a Twitch streamer) it’s all in all just more feasible for me to work on shorter-term projects like this, with a max development time of a year and that are not so complex that I completely get lost if I *do* have to go on a break for a few weeks. All of this added up to the decision, to basically start with a “clean slate”, so to say, and take Eversleep from a experimental short spin-off to the first mainline title.

“What happens to the original ‘Lunistice’ now?”

- The original project is cancelled... so to speak. I already do have some very vague plans about the future of Lunistice as a... franchise, I guess, and I will 100% look into incorporating elements from the original project (like the 3D rail-shooter segments) into that. It’s too early to say for sure though, since I’m still concentrating on polishing Lunistice right now. Though it might be a cool idea to repeat that whole “30-day challenge” with the goal of making a viable prototype instead of a finished product. We’ll see!

“What’s ‘Project Moonbunny’?”

- If you wishlisted the original Lunistice project on Steam, you might have noticed that it’s name changed to “Project Moonbunny” (while the old Eversleep store page got renamed to “Lunistice”). First of all: “Project Moonbunny” was just the temporary project name for the original project, so no, it’s not another super secret game, sorry. The reason for the whole renaming thing was mainly to conserve your wishlists on the proper project, actually. If I had just uploaded all Lunistice builds to the “Project Moonbunny” page, that would have meant that people who originally wishlisted a 3D rail-shooter now suddenly wishlisted a 3D platformer! On the other hand, people who wishlisted the 3D platformer would have lost their wishlists entirely. So for people who wishlisted one or both of these games, I know it was a bit confusing and I apologize, but my main goal was not to frick up your wishlists.

“Will Lunistice get a physical release?”

- Lunistice is a *very* small-scale game with a low price-tag, so unfortunately, while I would *love* to release it physically as well, we have to be realistic and accept that it would most likely make no sense for physical distributors to pick up the game for a boxed release. So no, right now it’s not planned and it’s very, very unlikely that it’ll happen, sorry!

“Will Lunistice come out on other platforms?”

- While I never like to say “no” on that front, again, this is highly unlikely. As I like to be as transparent as possible with this project: I don’t think other platforms besides PC and Switch would be a very good fit for the game. Console development is incredibly labour-intensive and can get expensive and I don’t think it would make much sense for a small game like Lunistice.

“PS1 and Saturn couldn’t do shader stuff?”

- This didn’t come up super often, but I’d like to explain anyway. The art style for Lunistice is basically: “What would a game look like that looks like a PS1/Saturn game *as I remember it*?” Meaning when we were younger (I was 8 years old when the PS1 came out) those games looked absolutely stunning in our eyes. Looking back at many early 3D games today though, they tend to not hold up super well graphically (though I’m biased af and will forever love them). So I tried to kinda “recapture” that feeling I had when I was a kid by mixing in some modern elements like modern shaders, widescreen support, etc, into the generally low-fi art style of the past. We can call it 32-bit+, I guess!

“That’s all nice and dandy, but how much will it cost?”

- 4.99

Heyo!

Steam Next Fest is here! ... Oh! Also a new Eversleep demo! Which you can check out, like, RIGHT NOW! 💖 While I'm back at working hard on getting the final release build done, I thought it would be a good opportunity to put all the fancy-schmancy bells and whistles from the upcoming release version into the current demo build! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/7bb88c8abedb07eae7ab2fefc16f5d00cdd6f534.gif That means: new menus, more amazing music by @knasibas, a new character controller AND-a even a brand-new birb! Check it out if you like and let me know what you think - either right here on Steam or on our community Discord: https://discord.gg/YfXtjAR Thank you so much for your ongoing support - I can't wait to show what's been cookin' for the final release! 😍 ~Dennis

Hello!

It's time for Update Time! Today the demo got a (comparatively) massive update! Before I go over the features though, some words about the development of the game!

"What's up with the jumpy game, fox man?"

It takes a little bit longer! As you might know, Eversleep was meant as a challenge to myself to create a commercially viable game in 30 days! And while I kinda-sorta made that goal (plus around 14 days, oh well) I kinda grew attached to the darn thing and wanted it to be really cool! As such, I'll be taking some additional time (mostly to avoid holiday season as well tbh) to not only boost the content a little bit, but also to give the game the treatment it deserves (like a full-on custom soundtrack by the amazing Knasibas!) So to make up to everyone and to give you a good idea on the current state of the game, I decided to update the free demo version to include all the bells and whistles from the final release version!

A new stage to play!

The new demo now has an additional stage for you to try out! I'd highly recommend not playing on an empty stomach though! 🍡🍡🍡 {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/e6ecdc88413e35c121224950310263a435615e18.jpg

Speedrun Mode + A Special Guest

Speedrun Mode has been activated for the demo version to give you an idea on how it'll work in the final version! This part is actually still a bit WIP, so only Any% runs have been made available for now! You get those glods, yeah! And make sure to share your best times on Twitter and Discord if you like! ❤ But wait, there's more! In Speedrun Mode you can play as one of the 4 upcoming guest characters! Play as Toree - the cute little birb from Toree3D / Toree 2 from indie developer SIACTRO! They're super fast, can't attack and die in one hit - just like in the game they originated from! And if you like what you play, make sure to check out Toree3D and Toree 2 as well! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1554840/Toree_3D https://store.steampowered.com/app/1722620/Toree_2

A new soundtrack

The great Knasibas has blessed Eversleep with his sick tunes! Step by step, I'll be able to remove the current library music by his original compositions! For now there's 3 tracks made by him in the new demo version!

An actual tutorial!

What do you mean "a simple overlay for the first 10 seconds of gameplay is not enough of a tutorial"? Fine, have it your way then!

A ton of additional fixes and additions

There's also a ton more stuff that we fixed and added, especially in terms of level design and structure! Like this amazing change to the level design in Stage 1 Act 1! Applause, please! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/40992870/9f083a03bdc38d34c8fcb3d2aea9b37d23bacc94.png I really hope you enjoy the new and improved demo! I can't wait to see what you think and I'm super excited to show you the final game when it's done 💖 Thank you so much for playing!

Good day! There's a demo for Eversleep now! Please enjoy and let me know what you think! Thank you!